3 ms·

I thought everyone was leaving Twitter and moving to alternatives? Doesn't seem to have happened. Everyone's more obsessed than ever with Twitter drama.

xiphias2 4y ago
What's really funny is that I see people on Twitter tweeting about leaving Twitter every day. I know they won't, so the whole thing doesn't make any sense.
- fleddr 4y ago
  Nobody with skin in the game will. I respect people that take a stand, but then you have to execute. Delete your account, anything less makes you a hypocrite. Don't de-activate, don't cross-post. Delete it. Nobody with a big following is willing to do that. They know that their inflated relevancy only works within Twitter and absolutely nowhere else.
  - welterde 4y ago
    On the other hand a certain bias is at play here, since you won't see the people that just deleted their accounts (or announced that they would and then executed on it).
    - fleddr 4y ago
      True for small accounts, not for big accounts.
    - xiphias2 4y ago
      Sure, they all do what they want, and also I have to decide whether it's worth following him to pollute my twitter feed or not. So far I believe that I'm getting more value by still following that person, and also it's great to see some opposing viewpoints to other people on Twitter. I just wish it was a bit more nuanced.
  - estebank 4y ago
    Account deletion carries an elevated risk of impersonation.
SilverBirch 4y ago
I think there's a few things going on, first the alternatives aren't really up and running yet - Mastadon is clunky, Post is still very much in beta, Jack Dorsey is an unbearable asshole, there's a thousand alternatives all spinning up right now, we'll see what happens when they actually launch. Secondly, there are actually some people leaving, and the people leaving are the people who bring actual interesting discussion to the site - people like John Green for example decided he couldn't tolerate the pedophile slur and has left. That's not a problem in the short term, but those leaders are just that - they're a leading indicator. Thirdly, and I think this is the most important part, Twitter has become the Elon Musk show. Everyone is still on Twitter, but the only topic of conversation is "what did Elon do today" and that's not a formula for a high engagement lasting and profitable enterprise. People tune in, but they're not there for the reasons they once were. Finally though is the most important part - which is that Twitter hasn't changed. Revolutionary bluechecks? Got rolled back, now it's back but with no features. Longer posts? Not implemented. Payments? Not implemented. Max Deboosting? Not implemented. Digg was starting to rot for a long time, and reddit was starting to gain traction for a long time, but it was only when Digg finally pushed out a new feature did everyone go "aaaand... we're done". I would suggest that's where we're sitting right now. Everyone is pissed off with Twitter, it's a worse experience with fewer good users, but there's no alternatives and not much has happened yet. But just wait, it doesn't take a look to push people over that cliff, and once they're gone they're never coming back.
pessimizer 4y ago
All the people saying that they were leaving are the worst behaved on twitter who everybody wants to leave. Reply guys all, the ur-leaver is somebody who nobody ever heard of until they replied "how dare you, sir" about 1,200 times under Trump tweets, and who now spends all their time reminding Briahna Joy Gray that she's a bitch and a Russian traitor. They're pretending that their leaving is a threat, when it's really the targeting of advertisers and the direct threats of investigation and regulatory retribution from the administration that's the threat to Twitter.
nickthegreek 4y ago
This is nonsense that never happened. Many people have left, some have not. Did you expect 50m to close their account overnight? Many people with big following and many with no followings have left. Also, people can leave twitter but still be interested in the "drama", as it can shape how other social media outfits behave moving foward.

xiphias2 4y ago

What's really funny is that I see people on Twitter tweeting about leaving Twitter every day. I know they won't, so the whole thing doesn't make any sense.

fleddr 4y ago
Nobody with skin in the game will. I respect people that take a stand, but then you have to execute. Delete your account, anything less makes you a hypocrite. Don't de-activate, don't cross-post. Delete it. Nobody with a big following is willing to do that. They know that their inflated relevancy only works within Twitter and absolutely nowhere else.
- welterde 4y ago
  On the other hand a certain bias is at play here, since you won't see the people that just deleted their accounts (or announced that they would and then executed on it).
  - fleddr 4y ago
    True for small accounts, not for big accounts.
  - xiphias2 4y ago
    Sure, they all do what they want, and also I have to decide whether it's worth following him to pollute my twitter feed or not. So far I believe that I'm getting more value by still following that person, and also it's great to see some opposing viewpoints to other people on Twitter. I just wish it was a bit more nuanced.
- estebank 4y ago
  Account deletion carries an elevated risk of impersonation.

SilverBirch 4y ago

I think there's a few things going on, first the alternatives aren't really up and running yet - Mastadon is clunky, Post is still very much in beta, Jack Dorsey is an unbearable asshole, there's a thousand alternatives all spinning up right now, we'll see what happens when they actually launch. Secondly, there are actually some people leaving, and the people leaving are the people who bring actual interesting discussion to the site - people like John Green for example decided he couldn't tolerate the pedophile slur and has left. That's not a problem in the short term, but those leaders are just that - they're a leading indicator. Thirdly, and I think this is the most important part, Twitter has become the Elon Musk show. Everyone is still on Twitter, but the only topic of conversation is "what did Elon do today" and that's not a formula for a high engagement lasting and profitable enterprise. People tune in, but they're not there for the reasons they once were. Finally though is the most important part - which is that Twitter hasn't changed. Revolutionary bluechecks? Got rolled back, now it's back but with no features. Longer posts? Not implemented. Payments? Not implemented. Max Deboosting? Not implemented. Digg was starting to rot for a long time, and reddit was starting to gain traction for a long time, but it was only when Digg finally pushed out a new feature did everyone go "aaaand... we're done". I would suggest that's where we're sitting right now. Everyone is pissed off with Twitter, it's a worse experience with fewer good users, but there's no alternatives and not much has happened yet. But just wait, it doesn't take a look to push people over that cliff, and once they're gone they're never coming back.

pessimizer 4y ago

All the people saying that they were leaving are the worst behaved on twitter who everybody wants to leave. Reply guys all, the ur-leaver is somebody who nobody ever heard of until they replied "how dare you, sir" about 1,200 times under Trump tweets, and who now spends all their time reminding Briahna Joy Gray that she's a bitch and a Russian traitor. They're pretending that their leaving is a threat, when it's really the targeting of advertisers and the direct threats of investigation and regulatory retribution from the administration that's the threat to Twitter.

nickthegreek 4y ago

This is nonsense that never happened. Many people have left, some have not. Did you expect 50m to close their account overnight? Many people with big following and many with no followings have left. Also, people can leave twitter but still be interested in the "drama", as it can shape how other social media outfits behave moving foward.